


Sacrificial Lamb

by ArtistAtHeart1



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Before the Death of John and Mary Grayson, Drama, Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-05
Updated: 2018-03-05
Packaged: 2019-03-27 11:37:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13880052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArtistAtHeart1/pseuds/ArtistAtHeart1
Summary: A sort of ficlet/dialouge based on what John and Mary could have known about the Court of Owls and their plan for Dick.What if the morning before their final performance, John had told Mary about the Court of Owls and that they were coming to take Dick (who's 8 in this) after the show.  How would she respond?





	Sacrificial Lamb

The sound of giggling bounced off of the walls of the trailer as John entered. He had spent most of the morning helping set up for the night's show, and after a meeting with Haly, he enjoyed the sound of merriment.

With a toothy grin, Dick would run up to his father and lunged at him. He picked Dick up and bear hugged him. Dick had floor scattered in his hair, a clear sign that he and Mary had been cooking.

"Welcome home." Mary greeted, approaching her husband. "We just made some cookies."

"I can tell." John chuckled, ruffling the flour out of his son's hair.

He would set Dick down before kissing her.

"How's it looking out there?"

"Good. Haly says tonight's show looks promising. How's our little man?"

"Great." Dick cheerfully replied.

"Excited for tonight's show?"

"Yeah!"

A small jump of joy escaped him.

"Oh! Do you want to tell your father what you saw outside the window?" Mary reminded.

John's attention shifted to Dick, who was eager to tell the tale.

"What did you see kiddo?"

"An owl."

A sense of surprise sparked in John at the declaration.

"An owl?"

"Yeah." Mary confirmed. "A snowy owl perched outside our window for a few minutes."

Intrigued indifference blanketed John as the room fell silent. When he didn't immediately respond, Mary's impressed smile shifted to a concerned frown, while Dick was confused by the lack of response.

"That's really cool." John stated, causing Dick to grin once more. "Why don't you go outside? Burn of some of those preshow jitters and maybe practice that little trick of yours. You know, the quadruple somersault."

"Alright." Dick accepted, wasting no time as he ran out of the trailer.

They would watch him throw the door open and leap off from the top of the steps. John would close the door that his son didn't bother to close then proceed to move to the window to keep an eye on him. With Dick pleasantly distracted, Mary would address the elephant in the room as she approached her husband.

"Is something wrong?" She inquired.

"Do you remember that 'nursery rhyme' that you reprimanded Haly for a few months back?"

"The one about the Court of Owls? Of course. Dick had nightmares for a good week afterwards. I couldn't believe he told him that. What does that have to do with this change in emotion?"

John would wearily sigh as he watched his son do one of his quadruple somersaults in front of a couple of the other circus folks.

"Do you remember what I told you about my grandfather?" John sternly asked.

"I do. You told me that he had taken your father when he was just a baby, albeit by questionably, and gave him to Haly's father. Again, what does he have to do with this?"

"What if I told you that wasn't the whole story."

"What do you mean?"

"What would you say if I told you that nursery rhyme was true? That the Court of Owls were real."

A puzzled chuckle got away from Mary.

"I'd say, you've got to be kidding. There is no such thing as the Court of Owls. They are a myth."

John didn't respond to the statement. Her response was expected, considering that had been the general consensus on the group. When he didn't respond, Mary's concern rose.

"You're serious." Mary deduced.

"Yes." John confirmed. "My grandfather was one of them."

A gasp escaped Mary as John's gaze finally went to her.

"My meeting with Haly wasn't just about tonight's show. They're here Mary. They've been working with the circus and have come to collect their prize."

Panic set in Mary as his cryptic wording was finally starting to sink in. Avoiding the unsettling suspicion in the back of her mind, she was still skeptical of John's words, wanting to deny the existence of the group.

"If this is some kind of joke, stop it. You're starting to scare me."

John's attention shifted back to the window, watching as Dick volunteered to help clean Zitka.

"They want our son Mary."

Mary's heart sunk. Her attention turned to her son. Fear infected her observation.

"Haly gave me this." John noted, pulling out a folded up piece of paper.

She took it from him and read it. Its contents were brief, outlining what John had said. They had come to collect their 'Gray Son' and they were beginning to lose patience.

"Please tell me you didn't agree to this." Mary pleaded. "Tell me you didn't sell our son."

"I don't have a choice."

Slamming the paper on the counter in front of her, she would grab her husband's arm and force him to look at her.

"What do you mean you don't have a choice? This is our son we're talking about."

"Do you think I don't know that? I've tried talking Haly out of it, but they're not taking no for an answer."

"How long do we have?"

"According to Haly, the end of tonight's performance."

She soaked in all of the information. A new sense of dread and hate rose from the pit of her stomach. She was furious at Haly for going along with this and even more so with John, who chose to spring this on her without warning. The fact that he appeared to know about his for a while didn't help ease her aggression in the slightest. The urge to run outside, grab her son, and go refused to disappear.

"What if we keep him out of the show? They can't take him if he's not present."

"The Flying Graysons have become a three piece performance. That would cause too much of a suspicion and I don't want to leave him alone."

"Then why don't we leave? If we leave right after the show, they can't take him."

"I already thought about that, but Haly says that wouldn't work."

"But if we can disappear…"

"They would find us and they would rip him away kicking and screaming. He would cry out for mom and dad, not understanding why he was being taken away. Not to mention they would probably kill us in front of him to prove a point. I don't want to give him up, but I don't want that either. We're stuck between a rock and a hard place and there's no way out."

Mary looked to her child, who was blissfully unaware of the situation.

"So were just supposed to offer him up like some sacrificial lamb?"

"Unfortunately."

Shaking with fear and rage Mary would smack her husband before leaning on him. Heartbroken sobs soaked John's chest as he wrapped his arms around her.

"Why? He's just a boy. A loving, innocent boy."

John refused to respond, silently mourning for his son. A distraught scream would echoed through the trailer, agonizing the breaking of their family.


End file.
